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"As it turns out, most beers are pretty much the same, well, with the exception of Guinness. When it comes to taste, the key factor isn’t the craftsmanship or i
by mattmaroon 16y ago
"As it turns out, most beers are pretty much the same, well, with the exception of Guinness. When it comes to taste, the key factor isn’t the craftsmanship or ingredients, but the advertising budget."
As a craft brewer myself, statements like that hurt deep in my soul. Of course mass-produced swill all tastes the same, it all uses the same craftsmanship (not much) and ingredients. It's all the same type of beer (some goofy ass mixture of grains including rice and/or corn, mild hops, and lager yeast brewed at standard lager temperatures).
The comparison to Guinness is ridiculous as well. It's as if they gave people 4 shots of vodka and one of tequila and said "look, all liquor other than tequila tastes the same!"
Throw some real lagers in there and I bet they'd stand out even with the labels removed. Not as far as a stout obviously, but nobody could mistake a Boston Lager for a Budweiser.
- wwortiz 16y agoMost people are just average beer drinkers, they haven't really tried anything outside of the popular beers and that is why I can understand a statement like that. I do however agree that all beer is not even close to equal I'm not big on alcohol but I do enjoy good beer and this is something that I can distinguish easily from the cheap beer.
- theBobMcCormick 16y agoClearly the author of the article must only get his beer from the grocery story. Even a cursory sampling at a decent liquor store should convince anyone that beer variety doesn't begin and end with Guinness.
- presidentender 16y agoNot only does his beer come from a grocery store, he doesn't travel at all. I know my area (western Montana) is saturated with microbreweries, which translates to all manner of craft beers available on tap and in stores... but I've never been anywhere I couldn't at least get something from New Belgium or Deschutes. Granted, I've spent my entire life on the western side of the Rockies, and I can imagine places where you can't get anything but lagers and Guinness. I just can't imagine never seeing even Sam Adams on tap.
- trafficlight 16y agoWe do have some great breweries in Montana. I think Blackfoot and Bayern are my favorites.
- presidentender 16y agoI agree with your assessment of Bayern but have not been exposed to Blackfoot. I am partial to Kettlehouse, myself. Both Bayern and Kettlehouse are within walking distance of me, which is very nice.
- trafficlight 16y agoBlackfoot is in Helena. My office used to be right across the street from the brewery. They don't bottle at all and I don't think they ship kegs very far. In Missoula, I know you can get some at McKenzie River or at Missoula Ale House. Actually, there website has a list of places. http://www.blackfootriverbrewing.com/beerfinder.html http://www.blackfootriverbrewing.com/beerfinder.html Blackfoot also does a lot of one-off batches that only last a week or two. They like to experiment.
- mattmaroon 16y agoNow I officially have a reason to visit Montana! Where would you recommend a beer lover go?
- presidentender 16y agoMissoula. I might be slightly biased.
- trafficlight 16y agoCheck out Grizzly Growler. http://grizzlygrowler.com http://grizzlygrowler.com It's a blog dedicated to Montana microbreweries.
- presidentender 16y ago
- khafra 16y agoAround here (Tampa Bay) even the grocery stores carry a small selection from local breweries and quality national offerings like Dogfish Head.
- look_lookatme 16y agoYou are reading this as if it's a taste competition, but it's not. It's about companies that basically offer the same product, but differentiate based on brand awareness. Guinness is so radically different than these American macro brews so it provides useful context. Tequila or vodka (not together, separate) would be very interesting studies, too. I'm not convinced that anyone but connoisseurs would rate blind vodka taste tests consistent with their preferred brand.
- rubashov 16y ago> vodka taste tests The bottom shelf to mid shelf price increment is pretty damn obvious in taste. The cheap stuff is bad. Once you're paying over ~$35 per liter I doubt anyone can tell anything apart.
- evilduck 16y agoThat misses the point though. The cheap stuff is all equally bad, anyone who proclaims themselves a loyalist to Smirnoff probably knows nothing of the high-end stuff, let alone be able to tell it apart from it's peer competitors. Likewise, a "Coors man" can easily be fooled into drinking Miller or Bud, because he doesn't base his preference on any quality of the beer itself.
- mattmaroon 16y agoNo, I'm simply pointing out that it's not at all informative to show that some people choose one beer over an almost identical beer because of marketing (everyone already knew that) nor is it fair to extrapolate the results to all beers (but Guinness).
- evilduck 16y agoAmerican light lagers amuse me as a brewer. They're pretty bland and watery, but it's one of the hardest styles to get right, and yet it still became the mass produced swill. Every flaw stands out because there's no major flavors to hide behind. It's a beer where expensive process became the most profitable because of volume sold (because it's probably the cheapest set of ingredients for a beer style).
- mattmaroon 16y agoI think it's the rice that makes it so cost effective.
- evilduck 16y agoHops are also a big cost factor. Light lagers are very lightly hopped since there's almost nothing in the final product to balance their flavor. There are big IPA recipes where hop cost is easily more than grain cost.
- ErrantX 16y agoCouldn't agree more. I was at a proper British beer festival the other day with 21 Ales and 18 lagers, I'd challenge the writer to run the same test with them :) There was everything from thick "gravy" to a really nice, light, fruity lager. (also, when I see people doing blind tests like this I always have this urge to swap out one of the samples with a bottle of Mexican chilli beer [beer which has had a chilli shoved in the bottle]. That would be a "taste sensation")
- shrikant 16y agoOT: Was this the Great British Beer Fest at the Earl's Court Exhibition Centre?
- ErrantX 16y agoHeh, nope, I never knew that was on (drat) :) It was at a local pub in Lincolnshire. Around here we have shed loads of micro-breweries.
- enjo 16y agoCheap plug: Come on down to Colorado and check out the Great American Beer Festival. Here's the list of breweries: http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/breweries-exhibitors-sponsors/breweries-at-the-festival/ http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/breweries-exhibitor... It's a really great event for anyone who loves Beer:)
- rubashov 16y ago> Throw some real lagers in there ... nobody could mistake a Boston Lager for a Budweiser Budweiser is a real lager. It's a pretty faithful czech style pilsner.
- mattmaroon 16y agoDepends on how you define lager. According to the Bavarian Purity Law it's not even a real beer since it uses rice, much less a lager.
- rubashov 16y ago> Depends on how you define lager Bottom fermenting. Many grains are used in lager. Some even have maize in them.
- paulbaumgart 16y agoI think the most useful definition (since beer terms are so vague anyhow), is something like "beer made at a low primary fermentation temperature followed by a long, even colder secondary fermentation, aka 'lagering'". Limiting yourself to barley, wheat, and hops like modern German law does is too much prescription and not enough description.